White Porcelain Water Dropper with Underglaze Blue Pine Tree and Plum Blossom Design

Joseon · 3F · Sculpture and Crafts · Buncheong Ware and White Porcelain

This early-Joseon water dropper in the shape of a peach is said to have been excavated from a tomb in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul. Early-Joseon peach-shaped droppers simplify the peach form while leaving the tip of the bud gently rounded; this piece has a full, easy line throughout and a dignified fullness at the bud. Its foot is pronounced and sturdy relative to its height, giving a very stable stance, and a single line of cobalt blue is drawn around the belly, above which a pine branch and a plum trunk are painted in a brushwork at once free and cultivated. The cobalt's color, with dark passages that look blackish-blue with a brownish cast set against clear, pale areas, together with the bluish-white glaze and sparse crackle, well expresses the character of early-Joseon blue-and-white; from its glaze, body, and cobalt tone it is thought to have been fired at the Domari kiln in Toechon-myeon, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.

See it in person at the National Museum of Korea — 3F · Sculpture and Crafts · Buncheong Ware and White Porcelain

Source: based on official e-museum records (National Museum of Korea).